Fish tank removal on Tom Cat

[kevin ware]

Has anyone cut out the fish tanks in the aft deck of a Tom Cat (leaving the hatches and hinges in place), and then being able to use the full hull space below for storage?

The tanks might be just fine for fish, but they are a bit small for other storage, and tend to collect water. The hull space underneath appears to be open and unused. Cutting out the tank just below the hatch lip seal would seem to be a fairly job.

[Sea Wolf]

Kevin-

You may want to investigate how to effectively seal up those fish boxes if you're going to open them to the hull space below.

I'm not a TomCat owner, but know they've been plagued with leakage problems when folks have tried to use them for dry storage.

What would happen if the space below were flooded in some way? Is it served by bilge pump(s)?

Joe.

[thataway]

The bilge pumps do serve the area under the fish boxes (Fish tanks had me confused for a few seconds--these are not bait tanks. )

However, I agree. There will be a lot of water in the hulls, and the seals are not good enough to take the tanks out (you can pump the fish boxes out via the macerator pumps). There will not be a lot of useful storage there. There is a lot of useful storage under the forward bunk, and depending which side the water tank is on, the opposite side just forward of the fuel tanks, with no risk of flooding the boat.

I would not do it!

[kevin ware]

Thanks for the comments.

The "fish" tank's (so called on the CD brochure) hatches do indeed have a problem with allowing water from rain and the like to get into the tank when the boat is stored outside. The lip on the hatch has a small drain, but it is not large enough for the purpose and readily becomes plugged.

The tanks themselves also have separate electric pumps to empty this water out (or the water used for bait or whatever), but pretty much that is the only way to drain them. I note some owners have put drain plugs in the bottom, which then allows that water to drain into the bilge where it is picked up by the bilge pumps.

I also note some owners have had to install a hatch in the tank itself in order to have access to the bilge pump when that unit needs to be replaced or worked on, as the tank itself effectively blocks access to the bilge. From looking at how it is layed out, I suspect the bilge pumps were installed at the factory before the rear deck was laid down.

Anyway, it does not seem to be the best design in terms of space usage or ease of maintaenance, am wondering how other owners have dealt with the problem?

KW

[Captains Cat]

Kevin, many posts about this issue. Poke around a little. One owner even put in an overboard drain from that lip.

You CAN access the bilge pumps in the sponsons but only with extreme difficulty. It helps to have 4' long arms or a trained monkey.

Charlie

[chriscarrera]

How about a Beckson or similar style hatch in the floor of the fish box? I just researched a couple sizes that would be nicely sized and allow access under the box. They look relatively watertight. Just a though